


The Deepest Reach

by OnyourRadar



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: AU, Bitter Characters, But she's not an issue, Canon Divergent, Concept Fic, Cupid - Freeform, E reasons, Eliott has foot in mouth syndrome, Eliott is a romantic, For reasons, In Love Characters, Lucas is an angry hedgehog, Lucille is supportive, M/M, Magic, Manon and Mika meddle, Mika is the boss, Office loving, Sexy Times, Supernatural - Freeform, The shag rug deserves it's own tags, They demonstrate why cupids ans unravelers should work together, They plot, Valentine's Day, and angry, and fluffy, angsty, enemies to lovers?, enjoy, more tags to come i'm sure, talks about love, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:41:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29436225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyourRadar/pseuds/OnyourRadar
Summary: I rewrote everything except chapter one. to be posted in parts.Cosmic eyes soft as he looked at the both of them. A cupid. The best of the best, Eliott Demaury was known for crafting soulmates with his love."Everything okay over here?" Eliott looks from Emma back to Lucas."Everything is fine—Emma's fine. She saw one of the cases I cracked and is here to… tell me what a wonderful job I did with tearing love apart." Lucas grumbles under his breath but knows the other two can hear him.--or--Eliott creates love as a Cupid, Lucas destroys it as an Unraveler.How on earth are they supposed to find love with each other when they both stand at such opposite ends of the spectrum. Or do they? Maybe they are one in the same?
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 37
Kudos: 67





	1. Can you even feel?

**Author's Note:**

> ... Hi everyone? Long time no see? Um I'm still around. Apologies to everyone I left behind when I deactivated. I don't want to spend my author's note explaining why I had to leave but for those who followed me and are still interested in following me-- If you know how I tag, you'll find me easily. For those who don't want to search for me that's cool, I'm gonna be active here too.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this piece of 3 am writing.

Emma came in crying again. Her mascara caught on her cheeks making her eyes look like wide, green, and leaking ink wells. 

Lucas reaches on his desk and grabs a tissue, holding it out to her as she passes by his desk. For a second she pauses, grabs it and brings it up to her red and raw nose, blowing harshly. He grimaces but manages to pat her on the back—the gentle pat only serves as a catalyst for another round of sobbing. 

He barely manages to stop himself from rolling his eyes and sighing as she clenches until the skin wrinkles appear at the corner of her eyes and she's some sort of ugly, standing there in front of him with her shoulders shaking and mouth all warped and wails emit from her. 

Lucas cocks a brow. 

"What is it this time?" He ignores the turn of heads and widened eyes that peek out from behind cubicle walls to watch Emma's dramatics and Lucas' awkward self. 

"They… t-they were married for 16 years, sh-he cheated on him with his sister . Lu babe, you had to—" she blows her nose into the disintegrated tissue and Lucas pulls away from her slowly, hand hovering as he felt his skin crawl. She drops it into the wastebasket near his feet. He shudders and takes two large steps away from her and it.

"—see it. You did such a good job and no one got killed this time." Emma rasps out between more sobs. Those tears of happiness trailing down her cheeks slowly to mock him for his concern.

She was talking about his case. The one he'd been crafting for the last year or so. Lucas knows the couple's name— or at least for now he does. Because when you spend a year trying to tear something down, it leaves an impression.

Sometimes he remembers old cases too. Especially when Emma and her coworkers in the Love Department get excited because his department doesn't manage to fuck up a heartbreak too badly and actually somehow inadvertently creating a ne love story with all their meddling. 

Much like she was doing now. Although Lucas dealt with unraveling, and Emma worked as a Cupid, they maintained an unusual cross department friendship. He's just about to say something snarky when a shadow to her left falls on the both of them. Lucas catches sight of Eliott Demaury, standing there looking cheerful. 

Cosmic eyes soft as he looked at the both of them. A cupid. The best of the best, Eliott Demaury was known for crafting soulmates with his love. 

"Everything okay over here?" Eliott looks from Emma back to Lucas. 

Maybe Lucas imagines it, but he feels the way those cosmic eyes linger on him. The heat of the stare causes Lucas to turn away, fingers pulling at his collar and a frown to paint itself on his face. 

"Everything is fine—Emma's fine. She saw one of the cases I cracked and is here to… tell me what a wonderful job I did with tearing love apart." Lucas grumbles under his breath but knows the other two can hear him. 

He doesn't look back at Eliott because he knows exactly the way Eliott's face falls. Especially when he learns about a heartbreak. Taking it personally that he failed to create a strong enough love in his couples to withstand the battering of HD. 

If Lucas was to be honest though, he was ruthless. He took his job very seriously and didn't just like to cause heartbreak. He wanted reason and bittersweet partings. Lucas wasn't an amateur when it came to finding cracks and wasn't above pushing his fingers into those cracks and prying ever so gently until something gave. 

He was good at what he did. Amazing at it and unrivaled. And he knew the Love Department hated him for it. 

"Oh, who was it?" 

"Annalise and George, married for 16 years, three kids, just retired to the—"

"Hillsides of Switzerland. George was a professor at Oxford where he met Annalise." Eliott finishes for him, voice somber. 

Lucas nodded. Cleared his throat and turned back back towards the pair without looking at either of them. 

"I should get back to work." 

Just as he tires to move past a firm grip takes hold of his bicep. Eliott didn't hold on hard but it was obvious he didn't want Lucas to simply slip by. The grey suit jacket bunches and wrinkles from the hold. 

Lucas looks from the fingers to the passive face, eyes unreadable. Guilt gnaws at his lower belly causing him to feel nauseated. 

"What was it?" Lucas doesn't know how to answer. 

Because he doesn't want to come off as mean. Or rude. Because he would if he were to answer the question.

Eliott Demaury was amazing at crafting love and love stories. He didn't shoot arrows for puppy love— no. He built foundations. He laid intricate webs of comfort and connection. 

Eliott dropped a little bit of himself into every human he worked with. He took years to build up love in his cases and his hard work showed. And the amount of love cases dropped on Lucas' desk, all crafted by Eliott… Lucas was ashamed to admit that it took him an embarrassingly long time to crack.

But that was why he was the one in charge of Eliott's cases. Because they were near impossible for any other Unraveler to work through.

"You missed the repressed feelings during childhood. When Annalise was 8,that tiny thought she had about her neighbor, and then again at 10 and 12." 

She just finally found someone she could act her thoughts and feelings out with. 

The hardest part though was the fact that Annalise was very much in love with George. Just deeply unsatisfied. 

"You managed to break up a 16 year marriage from that?" 

Lucas cocks a brow. "Are you surprised that even the deepest love can be destroyed by the repression of our pasts?"

Eliott shakes his head, eyes closing like he is disappointed. It almost feels like he is disappointed in Lucas for doing his job. 

"It won't happen again." Eliott whispers to the floor and Lucas believes him. Because that's what Eliott was good at doing. 

Realizing he did something wrong and then hyper fixating on it. But Lucas guarantees it will happen again. Because not everyone in the Love Department was Eliott Demaury. 

Not everyone cared about love the way this creative and beautiful soul did. No one paid as much attention to their job and cases the way Eliott did his. 

"Yeah, well, good luck— I have to get back." He pulls himself from Eliott's grip, crossing his arms across his chest almost protectively. Instead of walking away though, Lucas stands there his chin down and eyes rooted to the red plush carpet. 

A shag rug Mika had said when he was made head of both departments. 

" _Gotta pay homage to one of the greatest trends in Love's history."_

Lucas hates it.

"Anyways," he turns and starts to walk away. This time without anyone grabbing onto him he manages to make it to the black door. Above him hangs a stupid neon sign that dipicts a heart that flashes into a broken one. 

Though he loves Mika, the office decor could use a little less childish humor. 

"You know what Lallemant?" Lucas turns back to regard Eliott. He's not surprised to see Eliott Demaury looking like an angry angel. Those eyes glowing a raging and stormy blue. For a moment all Lucas can make out as he is swallowed whole by the gaze are the crashing waves that have been romanticized by the strong hearted. 

The one who longs for something more than what their lives have to offer. 

"Sometimes I really hate what you do. How easily you can find the human flaw and tear it apart without a thought. Can you even feel?" 

Lucas looks across the space. Catches the way heads swivel from Eliott to him like watching a ping pong match. 

His mouth grows dry from everything he wants to say back to Eliott so that the beautiful man, who was in love with love, would understand. 

Understand that despite what Lucas was capable of when he digs his claws into the poor unsuspecting victims, his craft required him to crack himself open just as equally and morbidly as Eliott did. That when he plucked at guilt and festering feelings of doubt, Lucas had to know the feelings intimately. 

Lucas wanted to let Eliott know that he felt love too. Knew exactly what it felt like and even worse, knew what it felt like to have love melt away. Blur to a point it no longer existed as something whole. 

But Lucas wasn't one to spill his guts or defend what he does. 

"It's a job Demaury. Maybe you should take a page out of my book and turn the dial of your feelings down just a little." He doesn't shout, but he knows how his words cut. "By the way, I'm working on Case 1." There is a collective gasp in the office. Lucas ignores them but notes how Eliott narrows his eyes and something in the air shifts, causing Lucas' eyes to dilate and his breath to rush. 

He wants it to never stop.

Lucas doesn't wait for Eliott to answer, instead he steps through the door to a place that was hated and misunderstood. 

His department received so much unintentional anger for the job that they had to do. Lucas was used to it. Having worked his way up for the last thousand or so years, perfecting his work and leaving his signature on broken love. When the door closes behind him, Lucas is drenched in the dark. Red black light dresses him in striking shadows as he makes his way down the aisle. 

It was clear he has one destination in mind because, though people peeked at him, they didn't stop him like they normally would. 

He searches for the sign that flashes "Training" and pushes his way in. The 15 or so bodies hunched over the glowing screens projected atop their desks, where scenes of puppy love played out in front of them, immediately paused their actions and took a step away from their station at the sight of him. 

"Please leave the room." He asks softly and without argument all 15 filed out without a second thought. 

Lucas breathes in deeply, eyes closing once he is alone.

_Can you even feel?_

He makes his way over to the table and is instantly assaulted by images of soft kisses. Adorable couples who find intimacy through tracing lips and caressing hair. In kissing fingertips and sharing secret laughs.

He shouts out in frustration as he dips his hand into the screen and swipes harshly at everything he sees. 

_Easy_ , he thinks. Sometimes breaking love was so damn easy. His fingers work like knives and needles. Cutting through all the fickle feelings like paper and sewing in seeds of unrest and sense of distrust. 

_Can you even feel?_

More than he fucking wants to. Because there is so much he understands about love at this point that he wants to play the fool. 

And of everything he understands. He understands that people always leave. Maybe not physically. But emotionally. Mentally. 

"I will crack case number one, even if it is the last thing I ever touch." 

He promises to himself. To the empty room. To all the couples he was currently destroying with a flick of his wrists. By the time he has calmed down, Lucas is staring at the half depleted training material for the trainees. He knows he won't hear the end of it if Mika catches wind of what he did. 

He leaves the tiny room and is greeted with 15 pairs of concerned eyes. He clears his throat. 

"...thank you— you may get back to work."

On his way back to his own separate office space, his coworkers avoid him like the plague; none of them willing to look in his direction. 

When Lucas pays a visit to the training room everyone knows he wasn't one to mess with. They gave him a wide berth. Lucas closes the blinds in his office and closes the door before collapsing half on his desk letting the exhaustion hit him full force. He used up a lot of energy. 

When not a minute later he hears a knock on his door Lucas groans in frustration. 

"Come in." He calls out reluctantly. 

Manon peeks her head through with a smile on her brightly painted lips. 

"Cool if I come in?"

Lucas nods and gestures to the chair in front of him but Manon forgoes the chair and rounds the desk situating herself on the arms of his chair. She curls an arm around his shoulders, fingers coming up to play with his fringe comfortingly. 

"How's my favorite boy doing?" 

Lucas cocks a brow. He shrugs. Because he's not doing so well. And he recognizes this. Maybe it was the fact that he easily unravels 16 years of marriage and strong love in a year's time. Maybe because he feels hurt that Eliott thinks he's some soulless angel doing the devil's work and Lucas is too stunted to be able to voice the truth.That he's hurt by what Eliott's says 75% of the time. And still so in love with the man 100%of the time. 

"Heard that Demaury was giving you a hard time." 

Lucas shrugs. 

"Nothing I can't handle."

"It was the Annalise case?"

Lucas nods, leaning into the rhythmic touch of her hands. 

Manon scoffs. 

"Maybe they should stop making it so easy for you then." 

Lucas knows she doesn't mean anything by her comment. Because if there was anyone who knew how difficult their job was, it was Manon. She had a track record of breaking up love that could rival Lucas'. The only difference is that she has never managed to crack any of Eliott's cases whereas Lucas has. One too many times. 

"By the way, I'm here to bring you some bad news." 

Lucas shifts until he could look at her wary of the news on the tip of her tongue. 

She drops a kiss on his forehead and he is almost positive there is a glowing red lipstick stain at the center of his forehead. 

He has the urge to wipe it off. But he doesn't. Instead he turns so that he is flipping through the mess on his desk. He tries to give his hands something to do. 

To keep busy. 

"Mika wants you in his office." 

"Yeah okay figured he'd find out what I just did—" 

"With Demaury." 

"—I thought I'd have more time thou— wait, what?"

Lucas feels something in his neck given how fast he turns towards her. There is a look of pity in her green eyes. 

"Yeah, babe. He's got a joint project for you—"

"Tell him I don't want it."

That he can't work alongside Eliott. That he won't do it. 

Because doing so might be subjecting his heart to something it wasn't ready for. 

"You don't have a choice." A voice chimes in. 

  
  
  


  
  
  
  



	2. Between Me and You? I've Learned A Thing or Two...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. So ao3 was a bitch for a hot sec there. And I've learned.... don't trust me when I have something finished. Me going back in to rewrite everything? More likely than you think. UNEDDITED cuz I couldn't afford to erase an entire chapter again.

Eliott wants to swallow his tongue. More than he has ever wanted before. He watches as Lucas eyes widen and his chest still as if he couldn't bear to take a breath in and bring life to the words that Eliott spits at him from halfway across the room. 

He doesn't imagine the way those cornflower blue eyes dilated before growing hooded— like Lucas had drawn down a curtain, pulled the shutters closed on a variety of feelings that washed up at Eliott's onslaught of accusations. 

Eliott hates that he can't say what he really wants. Because he doesn't mean it. Not really. 

Accusing Lucas of not feeling. Not when Eliott is aware that the people in the Unraveling Department felt far more than they let on. That they had a grasp on human emotions that most could only dream up. 

He sighs and runs a hand through his own hair. 

"Nice one." Eliott looks down at the fist that lightly bumps his shoulder. 

"Couldn't have screamed ' _I love you with every fiber of my being'_ more than you just did buddy." 

Emma smiles wide and wiggles her eyes mockingly. The stains on her face making it almost comical. 

"And, in front of an audience too." She drives the point home, fist opening to slap his arm like she was familiar with him. 

He looks away from her and back at the office, eyes bore into him and he clicks his tongue annoyed. 

Everyone was watching. Everyone saw that. He fails at pushing back the flush of anger that heats his cheeks and can barely imagine the feeling of the other boy. 

How the heat of embarrassment might have licked at the soles of Lucas' feet as he walked away.

"That's because Eliott here, needs to demonstrate how his love is different, isn't that right buddy?" 

A hand comes down on his shoulders harshly, patting once then twice. He trails the length of the arm with his eyes. Dread pooling at the pit of his stomach because he knew exactly who he was about to face. 

Mika grins widely at him, jaw tight and eyes shadowed in a way that said, 

"Oh boy, I just saw what happened, Eliott. Come— let's talk in my office." 

And Eliott doesn't have a leg to stand on. Because Mika was the boss and if ever he had a favorite, it is Lucas.

"I didn't mean it." Is the first thing out of his mouth as he stares Mika down. 

Despite standing a head taller than the other brunette Eliott feels small in his presence.

Mika cocks a brow, unbelieving of his admission. Eliott ignores the way Emma gasps, drawing out the sound like she wasn't surprised in the least. 

"Listen I'll leave you two to go have a chat but only because I need to bring this fat juicy piece of gossip back to Cazas." 

Eliott groans realizing just what kind of hole he has fallen into due to his inability to think clearly when it comes to all things Lucas Lallemant. 

"Chin up Demaury. Yann's not gonna come after you, if anything he finds this shit just as funny as I do." She taps at her chin and looks up at the ceiling. "What was it? Demaury's infinite ways of saying 'I love you' without saying 'I love you'?... yeah, I think that's what Yann dubbed your interactions with Lu-bear." 

Eliott feels his neck warm at the thought of his colleagues discussing such intimate things behind both their backs. 

Emma nods her head towards her boss before making her way towards the doors Lucas disappeared through not moments before. There was a skip in her step that Eliott wants to find fault in but he doesn't manage to. 

When he turns back towards Mika, the older brunette is smiling at him with hooded eyes, soft in its pity. 

"Fine," he admits." Okay, I meant it. But sometimes—" Eliott realizes he is quick to defend what he means. "—I wonder if it really isn't anything more than a job to him."

That yes, what they do is mandated and it brings in the necessities but maybe— just maybe Lucas could show an ounce of remorse for the pain that his work brings. 

"I-I couldn't do what he does." 

Eliott admits, eyes pivoting to the floor in hopes of finding answers to his musing. His sight is assaulted by the shag rug and feels a tick of annoyance that it doesn't offer up much for all the questions he asks. 

Mika's firm hand on his shoulder guiding him towards his office really didn't help. But he moves with the force and his shoulders sag. 

He knows it's almost inevitable. For curious hands to dip into his work but it was frustrating nonetheless to see their success. 

Because for that success to occur, Eliott had to have failed. Missed something. 

And he doesn't like the bitter feeling and after taste that it leaves in his mouth when he hears,

" _Lucas cracked another one of your cases. HD is celebrating again."_

What cause was there to celebrate? The breaking of a bond was a sad thing. And Eliott would always think so. 

The small walk to Mika's office felt like it took forever and it wasn't made much easier with the weight of everyone's gaze following them as they crossed the room.

He didn't feel much better as the door shut with a silent force behind the both of them. 

"Please, have a seat." 

The shag rug extended into Mika's office. 

It serves as a small comfort for Eliott as Mika moves round his desk and, like a little kid, begins to arrange the little knick knacks and memorabilia in front of him. 

Like he was keeping busy or stewing over his words. Really thinking hard about what he wants to say to Eliott for his harsh words towards Lucas. 

But this wouldn't have been the first time that they've exchanged words that felt like blows. Nor was it the first time Mika has overheard. 

As Eliott clearly recalls one or two times, Mika stood there amongst the crowd, bag of kettle corn in his hands, munching away as his eyes followed the back and forth— riveted. Now the brunette is tapping away at the little memo machine on his desk. It glows black and Eliott is aware that Mika was sending a message to someone in the Heartbreak Department. 

Curiosity blooms in his chest as he sits there watching until the pressure builds in the silence between them.

"I really didn't—"

"Eliott, why do you do your job?" 

The question throws him off kilter and he finds that hisbwords remain stuck in his throat as he watches Mika play with a candy heart plushie. 

Big white block letters stamped in front, the message: _U R GR8._

It mocks him. 

"Because I know what I'm doing."

Because without cupids there would be no love and perhaps these worlds they meddled in, these _universes,_ would be far to bleak. 

Without love, wouldn't a life collapse in on itself in a search for something more?

"You certainly do know what you're doing. The best in the field, as a matter of fact." 

Mika hums, eyes twinkling.

"But what if I told you I want you to become an unraveler instead? To get a firm grip on this whole love business."

Eliott feels his heart drop at the possibility of losing his position. Of having to do the exact opposite of what he felt he was made to do. 

"I told you, I wouldn't be able to do what he does." 

A complete lack of understanding when it comes to love. 

Mika opens his mouth to say something when he is interrupted by a knock on the door. 

His head drops and a strangled noise of frustration and a pitched whine echoes in the back of his throat before he calls out a muffled, 

"Come in." 

Mika pinches the bridge of his nose when Lucille peaks her head in. Her green eyes find Eliott first before landing on their boss. 

On her face, a frown was stitched on to perfection. It dragged the skin of her face in a relatable way. 

"I didn't mean to interrupt." 

Mika smiles wryly at the brunette, eyes hooding the way it does, like he knows more than he lets on. 

But Mika always looks like he knows more than he lets on. When he didn't, that's when the office was scared. 

"No, seeing your face is always a pleasure, Lucille— how can I help?" 

"The training material for unit 7 is nearly depleted." She rolls her eyes as she reports to Mika of the discretion at 

Hand. 

Eliott feels his eyes widened. Where the trainees that advanced or,

"It was Lallemant." Lucille spit the name like it was fire and she was trying desperately to put it out. 

And then everything made sense. 

A low whistle sounded from Mika catching both their attention. 

"That was at least 10,000 cases. How much is left?" Mika nods his head as if coming to some kind of internal acceptance.

Lucille looks down at her sticky note with disdain, eyebrows ticking in annoyance. 

"367 cases left."

"Oh, do get the names of the cupids that withstood that onslaught. Oh," Mika said in a sing song voice as if something delightful, a thought, struck him in that moment, "and could you possibly do me a huge favor Lucille?" Mika sends her a smile that Eliott translate to, 

_You don't have a choice, really._

She looks over at Eliott and bites her lips before looking back over at Mika with a glow to her eyes.

"Of course, is it anything I can help with personally?" 

Eliott looks away from Mika as he purses his lips in thought. 

He didn't want any part of this. Whatever _this_ was. The way Lucille sounded hopeful to work on something, _anything_ with Eliott, made him feel cheap. Almost dirty. 

Because he wasn't trying to lead her on in the least. They might have had a thing in the past, but, without the help of an unraveler— Eliott came to the conclusion that what they had wasn't _right._

The only thing he had hoped for in that instance, where they ended their romantic relationship, was for things to feel mutual. 

But they weren't. It wasn't. 

Though they are civil with each other. Working in the same space and sharing smiles and warm greetings, Eliott knew things were irrevocably changed. 

He only regrets leaving the darkness behind for Lucille to fight to get out of on her own. 

"I'm not too sure," Mika thrums his fingers on his desk." But you'll be the first to know if things don't work out."

"Right." Lucille's face shuts down the way it does when she's disappointed. 

It's a look Eliott was quite familiar with. 

"What can I do for you then?" She asked. 

Mika perks up. 

"Would you please go fetch one Lucas Lallemant for us. Do let him know I have a joint project idea." Mika looks away as if dismissing Lucille to run the task. 

Eliott catches the way Lucille rolls her eyes and huffs. He smiles at the strength she exudes evn in the face of her boss. 

"Honestly? I'm not really your assistant."

Her lips are drawn tight and those green eyes narrow when Mika pouts at the both of them, shoulders sagging. 

"That's why I said favor." He draws out the word, whining at being denied. But he perks up just as quickly.

"Fine, don't worry about it. However, do make sure you speak with Basile in producing more training material for the trainees in HD." Mika waves his hand in the air dismissively. 

Those hazel eyes turn to regard him and Eliott feels frozen in the face of having to potentially face Lucas again after having said such hurtful words. 

"Now Eliott, if you could please go find…"

"I'll do it." Lucille interrupts. The words rush out in a breath, loud. Eliott stares at her panicked face with concern. 

"I'll fetch Lallemant and then touch base with Basile. I-it's fine, I'll do it." 

Almost as if expecting such words a smile is quick to form and Mika claps his fingers together, giddy. 

"Oh goody, please let him know that he has no choice in this matter." 

"Whatever." Giving one final look at them, Lucille walks out, heels a muffled shuffle on the rug. The door slams shut behind her.

"She sure harbors some anger, that one." Mika stares at the closed door as if it was an extension of Lucille. 

He turns and Eliott is reminded that he is the sole focus of Mika's attention. Despite working under the cupid extraordinaire for an infinite amount of years, Eliott is still unsure if this was a good thing or a thing to be wary of. 

He settles with caution.

"Now, where were we?" 

_Questioning my job security,_ Eliott thinks. 

"Right. Love," Mika rests his chin in the palm of his hand looking every bit relaxed. 

The calm makes Eliott restless. Because he doesn't feel quite too calm. 

"Have you considered that there are ways for you to get a better grasp of what Love is, Eliott?" 

"And you seem to think those ways involve me becoming an unraveler?" 

Mika gives a noncommittal shrug and dip of his chin. That smile isn't gone but isn't as pronounced as it was just moments before. He tinkers again with loose papers and glowing tablets. Eyes pausing to read whatever message was sent back to him. 

"Not so much become an unraveler but perhaps working in close proximity with one. You see,—" 

Lucas and Eliott already work together. No other soul touched his work but Lucas Lallemant and Eliott, though he doesn't ever admit it aloud, doesn't want to change that. 

The bond he built in learning the ins and outs of Lucas' unravelling techniques felt intimate. 

"I already work with Lucas." 

Mika smiles. 

Eliott doesn't want to change anything. 

"I don't want to work with anyone else." He forms the words slowly, almost careful and deliberate in how simple he makes it. Like there was an off chance that Mika would misunderstand him. Had misunderstood him when he claimed Lucas wasn't one to feel. 

"Someone is a little touchy— no, _no_ , you've got it all… well actually whether things change depends on your answer." 

Mika's back and forth, as if he were talking with himself and no one else, gives Eliott whiplash. Granted, having worked with Mika for god knows how long at this point, Eliott is more surprised that he is still not used to this behaviour. 

"Eliott, tell this old soul what Love is." 

Mika's face twists, lips purse like he's really contemplating the age old question. Like Mika has not spent his lifetime deconstructing the term. Building and unraveling his fair share of love trials. 

Like Mika wasn't the one to teach Eliott everything he knew. 

But he was. And he did. 

And Eliott can't help but feel like he was being tested as Mika carefully attempts to extract the words from Eliott's own mouth—simply so he may pass judgment.

"It's that feeling that everyone chases. The kind of feeling that once found, it is cherished because—" Eliott thinks on how he lays down the stepping stones that connect two humans on an intimate level. Where first there is doubt but a want, a desire for something more to bloom. He gets lost in it. In his thoughts. In his explanation

Because the connection that is formed, sparked by desire, is incomprehensible. It is connection. It is acceptance. It is the will to push against all the bad and learn and grow and it was, is, will be

“ —it’s everything.” It’s everything to those who get to experience it and live a life of bursting colors and the one they love besides them. Causing it. Love is the hand that cradles those bruised and broken hearts and mends it. 

When Eliott looks back at Mika, his boss looks like he is melting, clinging onto every word that drips from Eliott’s lips. Mika is slumped in his chair, chin resting in the nook of his folded arms and his smile is wide. Warm. 

Like he was feeling everything exactly as Eliott describes it and Eliott wants to add more, because he feels like what he said wasn’t nearly enough. Didn’t do Love any justice. 

His mouth hangs open, words about to pour when two throats clear and like a wake up call, Eliott’s head snaps towards the source. Lucas stands there with Lucille next to him, door closed behind the both of them. At what point had they arrived? Did they hear Eliott get lost in himself, with his words, with his thoughts? From the way Lucas’ lips are down turned and how Lucille looks past the small brunette like he isn’t even there and at Eliott longingly, Eliott thinks maybe they heard everything. The thought of it doesn’t embarrass him. No. But he feels like his own heart sinks and nestles itself in his stomach in an attempt to hide. For a second he thinks he would be ready at any moment to defend himself. But Mika, sly and stealthy, simply smiles at the two of them waving them in. 

“Thank you for coming.” 

“I was told I didn’t have a choice.” Lucas grumbles and Lucille huffs, folding her arms and looks away like something happened on the way over that she’d rather forget. 

Eliott burns with curiosity. 

“Lucas, you always have a _choice_ — we just tend to hate the consequences of the _wrong_ choice.”

Lucas breathes out deeply from his nose, eyes narrowing. 

“Right. So. Like I said. I didn’t have a choice.”

Mika hums and gestures for the two to sit but Lucas remains rooted and Lucille idles next to him, unsure. 

“Of course, of course. Well if you wish to stand so be it. Do tell me Lucas, what do _you_ think Love is?” 

Like he was gearing up for a lecture to the trainees of his department, Lucas stands a little straighter, eyes still diverted, but fingers playing and tracing loose patterns on small cufflinks. 

“Love is a feeling that is produced when two people connect on an emotional level. It is sought after because the actions, words, and thoughts often connect to this feeling of love produces natural serotonin that—”

“Stop.” Eliott finds himself spitting the words harshly at the other boy. He feels mocked. Like Lucas doesn’t mean what he said but he said it to hurt Eliott. On purpose. It makes his vision grey out. “Why are you saying all this like you actually think that.” 

Lucas narrows his eyes at Eliott ready for the stand off as it were. HIs upper lips pulled back in a snarl and mouth open as his tongue curled when suddenly, Mika’s voice rings out in command. The sound of it is an endless echo. 

“The truth please.” 

And just like that Lucas’ back straightens, and his feet click together as his arms drop. The anger melts from his face and his words come out hollowed but honest.

“It’s an answer he would expect from someone who doesn’t know how to feel— _dammit_ Mika! You know I hate it when you fucking do that! You _promised_ you wouldn’t.” 

Lucas breaks away just as quickly as his body bent to the will of the other man. Those blue eyes ignite with the same flame that burns his cheeks pink. 

“I should fucking eat that last piece of cheesecake in the fridge, gods know you don’t fucking deserve it.” He bristles and those arms coming up to fold around his torso like it was the only thing that was protecting him from the other occupants of the room. He doesn’t look at Eliott. 

But had he, maybe he would have seen shock. Maybe he would have recognized the way his words were reverberating in Eliott’s mind, in his mouth as he swallowed it down. The way it cut and zig-zagged all the way down to clang against his ribs.

Throbbing like a stone of regret right next to his heart. 

_An answer he would expect._

Eliott did not expect it. 

_From someone who doesn’t know how to feel_. 

No. Eliott wants to scream back. No. That he didn’t mean it and never meant to let those words fall past his lips to paint hurt so clearly, that Lucas felt the need to be vindictive. His protest sits heavy on his tongue. 

“I meant truth for your thoughts on Love and that—please, that was all you.” Mika holds up his palms placatingly. “Please don’t eat the last slice. I’ve been dreaming of it since I woke this morning.” 

Lucas huffs but again those cheeks flare pink. He mutters something under his breath before he turns his glare towards Eliott. 

"Love is reckless. Ugly and hurtful. It harms the soul and tears us apart. Love is destruction of a self for others." 

When Lucas answers this he hasn't even taken more than two steps into the office.

But he speaks his definition so surely and quickly, Eliott would have almost been impressed if every fiber of his being wasn't screaming at the fact that Lucas was wrong. But this time he doesn’t want it to sound accusatory. 

"You look like you want to say something?" Lucas calls out to him without really _looking_. 

"You're wrong." Eliott responds. Voice feeling tight as his chest.

"Am I?" 

"Is he?" Mika smiles wide, like he enjoys playing devil's advocate. Like he hadn't just spent the last five minutes listening to Eliott formulate words to describe an indescribable feeling and nodding his head like he agreed with everything Eliott had to offer. 

Like he was ready for eliott to question all the words that Eliott had to rip his soul open to find and lay across the desk of his boss to show him that Eliott doesn't just work with love. He _knows_ love. 

"Of course he's wrong." Lucille chimes in. She scoffs and glares at Lucas, who, despite the awkward air of the office blows her a cheeky kiss. His fingers continue to toy with those shiny little hearts on his sleeves.

Eliott feels a pang of regret. 

"Please Lucas, have a seat—” Mika tries again before turning to Lucille. “ —and thank you so much for fetching our lover boy here."

Eliott bites his lips at the nickname, and barely manages to contain his snort of laughter which finally earns him a look from the shorter brunette. 

Eliott fights every fiber of his being that screams he should shy away. Instead he lowers his eyes and smiles at the other in truce. 

He hopes that Lucas reads it loud and clear. His apology that he's unwilling to say out loud in front of an audience. 

The way Lucas' eyes grow hooded in the seconds to follow and his chin dips just the slightest in acknowledgement has Eliott soaring. 

"Do you want me to stay?" Lucille sounds hopeful as she asks this. "I can record for the official record?"

Mika smiles and nods. "That sounds lovely." 

Lucille visibly brightens at this and moves to slide in the seat to Eliott's left. 

"So you both have varying degrees of what you think Love is— and it seems that there is some disagreement here." 

Lucas folds his arms across his chest making a noise in the back of his throat. 

"I never said I disagreed with Eliott."

And it's not something Eliott was expecting to hear. He looks at Lucas waiting for an explanation.

Mika drums his fingers on his desk again but after a couple of minutes of silence and Lucas cocking a brow at him, their boss sags and sighs. 

"Kitten, explain." 

Something magically happens and Eliott feels his breath pausing as he watches Lucas' face grow red from _that_ nickname but there is no opposition from Lucas. Those pale lips drop open, eyes growing wide as he stares at the other three in the room. For more than a split second Eliott gets a chance to catch something more than indifference on that sculpted face. 

And he feels absolutely over the moon at being able to see it first hand. He wants to see it again and again. 

“E-El..” Lucas clears his throat. “Eliott said Love is everything right? Why are you ignoring the other half to it then? Who are you to get to cherry pick what falls under _everything_?” 

Blue eyes regard him. “Yes, love is beautiful, it is warm and the thing that gets humans to fight against the things that try and beat them down. But love burns and it teaches us the horrors of life just as well—To think it isn’t anything but happiness and slow dancing, or hand holding and tenderness with passion is childish. And tell me _Eliott_ , does anyone ever stop _loving_ another person? In the face of death? in the face of heartbreak? They don’t. Love is complex and it lives in your memories and makes home in your bones and it manipulates and it wears you down.” 

Lucas ends his tirade somber. That blush gone and embarrassment replaced. 

“So I don’t disagree with you. I simply see all of it like you claim to. But I don’t blame you for seeing it that way. Day in and day out cupids get to experience the most beautiful view of Love. It’s normal for them to see it that way.” 

Eliott wants his voice to work. He wants to shout that it isn’t true. That he doesn’t simply work on the spectrum of rainbow and butterflies. His work was grueling, because every move, every action, and every thought has consequences. 

And Eliott needed to know those consequences intimately to avoid such things. So he understands when Lucas said that everything meant _everything_. 

But perhaps Eliott wanted to cancel out those negatives. That he didn’t want them to touch the love that he tries to build. 

“What we should take away from this— the both of you— is that there is more than one type of love. You both handle the romantic side of things— the sex, drugs, rolling in the sheets and fuck me deep kind of love.”

“I’d like to point out that not all my cases revolve around sex.” There are definitely different kinds of intimacy and Eliott prides himself on being able to weave in the importance of things other than sex. 

“Yes, yes, Eliott, dear, you are my best cupid but, the point I’m getting at is that there’s still a lot left to learn. And you can learn these things from each other. This is why I would like for you both to work together on a project, where—

"I don't want it." Lucas is quick to say.

Eliott bites at his lips harshly. He can't help but feel the rejection flow the course of his veins. 

“Then I can have you transferred to Camille’s department and you can be paired with someone else.” Mika says this gravely, a rare frown touching his lips. 

Lucas looks over at Eliott, eyes wide and mouth gaped. His fingers are clenched on the arms of the chair that he occupies, skin morphing into a sickening white from the strength he exerts. 

“I work _here._ I work only for you, _Mika_.” Lucas grits his teeth and seethes. 

“Mika, you can’t possibly think about transferring Lucas— he’s your best unraveler.”

Mika pinches the bridge of his nose again. “Boys, I’m afraid if I can’t get the ball rolling on this project, then I have very little say on what happens to our dear kitten here.” 

A hand slams on the arm of the chair and a sound of unadulterated anger is pulled from Lucas’ throat as he throws his head back to stare at the ceiling. 

“Is...is there no one else that can work with me?” Eliott throws a sideway glance at Lucas who was failing to calm himself down. The smaller brunette bristles even more at Eliott’s question. 

But Eliott doesn’t regret asking it because he hates that Lucas is being forced to work with him when, clearly, the other doesn’t so wish to. It looks difficult for the brunette to even be in the same room with Eliott. 

Mika tilts his head for a second as if thinking about his options. Just as he’s about to speak Lucas stand abruptly, his chair knocks over from the force of his haste. 

“Think about giving Demaury’s cases to anyone other than me and I will quit on my own violation. I’ll do it. I’ll work with him on this project. But not before I unravel case number 1.” 

Only after. 

Eliott looks on at Lucas who doesn’t wait for a response and he walks out of the office. The lines of his shoulders still tight as the door slams shut behind him. Mika hums before turning to Lucille who is, despite the circumstances of what just went down, capturing the official notes of the meeting. 

“And I thought you were the one harboring all that anger. I think our kitten has you beat babe.” 

Lucille rolls her eyes and huffs, but worries at her own lips as her fingers move across the screen. 

“So, since that is settled, then we will draw up the contract.”

Eliott feels torn. He doesn’t mind that he has to work with Lucas. He doesn’t. But his mouth dries up at Lucas’ parting words. 

His mouth runs dry at the thought of never seeing things the way Mika lays it out for him. That all this time he was learning from Lucas and he couldn’t credit him for it. Didn’t _want_ to credit him for it because he couldn't see past the hurt.

“You’ll let him do it?”

“Do what Eli babe, you’ll have to be a little more specific than that.”

Eliott swallows and pushes the words out, though not accusingly.”

“You’ll let him unravel case number 1?” 

Mika smiles brightly at that thought as his hands move quickly across the screens in front of him without looking. 

“Eliott, tell me something. Everytime Lucas unravels your cases, what do you do when you learn of such things? Give up? Say “ _what is the point?”_ , or do you work to build a stronger love? Don’t you always pay attention to what you messed up on the first time around and ensure that you don’t do it again?”

Eliott startles. Because he does. He never lets the same mistake happen twice as he spends countless hours filling in the holes that he missed or finding new ones and covering them so that Lucas, or any other unraveler for that matter, could not simply come in to cut the strings. 

“When a cupid and an unraveler work together, they can build the strongest love, they don’t just create soulmates but unbreakable bonds. We need people to believe in love again Eliott and that means that you need to continue to grow and be challenged by someone like Lucas. ” 

He thinks of all the times he was upset. About how each time he heard it was taking Lucas longer to crack a case, it made him feel elated. But his success, he convinced himself, was all due to his hard work, his attention to detail, his own _feelings_ and investment in every lover and couple that he formed. 

"When Lucas succeeds, Eliott you will see where you went wrong and the next time you create—you can bet that Lucas will fail. But only because the love you build from your mistakes will be unbreakable."

He never credited Lucas. Didn’t think twice about how Lucas had to know just as much as he did about love in order to see everything Eliott missed. 

“What’s this project?” Eliott would change that. 

Mika smiles feral. 

“We are going to create that unbreakable bond. One that carries over death, over universes and lifetimes. The humans will sing about this love in their songs, write about it in their stories and poems. It will be the best version of case number one you can possibly imagine.”

Eliott believes that they could do it. Lucas and Him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Kudos? Will it happen? The world may never know.
> 
> Also THINGS WILL BE EXPLAINED. SO SORRY IF THINGS ARE CONFUSINGGGG.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts and comments?


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